The present invention relates to means for effecting an electrical connection between normally continuous nerve fiber that has been damaged or injured as to interrupt or interfere with the normal conduction of biological electrical impulses therethrough.
The need for conducting bio-electrical signals across an injured or damaged group of nerve fibers has constituted one of the most long-standing and difficult problems in the treatment of neurological injury. Prior technical activity in the present area has, for the most part, related to the use of extracorporeal devices, utilizing gross electrodes, in order to attempt to bridge breaks in nerve fibers. These efforts, as well as efforts to deal with the problem at the micro-electronic level, have not been successful. Also, methods at implanting microelectrodes and related devices into nerve fibers has met with only limited success. Examples of such efforts appear in U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,565 to Stein, entitled Implantable Neural Electrodes; No. 4,281,668 to Richter, entitled Implantable Electrode; and No. 4,307,472 to Morris, entitled Prosthetic Device With Rigid Implantable Member Having Bonded Porous Coating.
United Kingdom Patent No. 2,124,495 to Kuzma, entitled Prosthetic Package, discloses a ceramic disc used in reconstructive neurology of the human ear.
Other prior art methods have related to bio-electronic techniques for the stimulation of cell growth following injury (see Stein above). Some prior art efforts have also related to the chemistry of in vitro implantation of an electronic device (see Morris and Kuzma above). There is, however, nothing in the prior art that constitutes a complete prosthesis for a damaged segment of nerve fibers. It is toward the solution of this basic neurological problem that the present invention is directed.
Applicable bibliography in this area includes the following references:
1. Gray's Anatomy, Goss, 29th Edition.
2. Developmental Anatomy, Arey, 7th Edition.
3. The Neurologic Examiner, Demyer, 2nd Edition.
4. Correlative Neuroanatomy and Functional Neurology, Lange, 1975
5. Medical Physiology, Guyton, 4th Edition
The instant invention is believed to be properly classified in U.S. Class 3, Subclass 1; and U.S. Class 128, Subclasses 1, 334, 419 and 784.